Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and Advancement in Medicinal Pants Research, ISBN: 978-81-955847-2-7 Mahanto et al. 2022 45 PHYTOCHEMICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF GENUS CURCUMA – A REVIEW Anshu Mahanto 1 , Susant K. Rout 2 and Durga P. Barik 1 * 1 Department of Botany and Biotechnology [Supported by OHEPEE (HE-PTC-WB-02017) and DST FIST Program], Ravenshaw University, Cuttack – 753 003, Odisha 2 Scientist, Science and Technology Department, Government of Odisha, India * Email Id: barikdp@gmail.com ABSTRACT Genus Curcuma holds it’s presence in ancient Ayurveda and also has been immensely used as both traditional and modern medicine. The genus consists of rhizomatous annual or perennial herb and belongs to Zingiberaceae family. The genus is widely distributed in tropical Asia and the Asian–Pacific region as wild and even cultivated form. Rhizome is the most used part of the plant. Many pharmacological, molecular and phytochemical studies have been conducted on several species of Curcuma worldwide. Phytochemicals such as sesquiterpenoids, germacrone, xanthorrhizol and curcuminoids are found to be some of the bioactive compounds and also shows encouraging pharmacological activities including anti-inflammatory activity, anti-oxidant activities and even cytotoxicity against cancerous cell. Whereas, curcumin and its structural analogues are the medically most valuable compound for the genus. This review paper is an attempt to assemble phytochemicals and some of the pharmacological activities of the genus Curcuma. Keywords: Genus Curcuma, pharmacological, phytochemicals, curcumin, Ayurveda, Zingiberaceae family, sesquiterpenoids, germacrone, xanthorrhizol, curcuminoids, cancerous cell INTRODUCTION Some plants have been discovered for decades and used as traditional medicine in different developing countries including India. Plants synthesize hundreds of biochemical compounds for functions including defense against insects, herbivorous animals, fungi, and diseases. The place and roles of plants in medicine were totally altered in the 19 th century by application of chemical analysis (Dutta 2015). The history of medicinal plants dictates how important they are in healing several complications and discovering new drug molecules in the modern era. Medicinal plants are considered as rich resources of traditional medicines and from these plants many of the modern medicines are produced. For thousands of years medicinal plants have been used to treat health disorders and to prevent diseases epidemics. Various phytochemicals with potential biological activity have been identified in the plants (Rahaman et al. 2021). Secondary metabolites, are group of bioactive substances which have diverse classes of compounds like alkaloids, terpenoids, phenols, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, etc., and are produced through secondary metabolism in different plants. The secondary metabolites produced by the plants are usually responsible for the biological characteristics of plant species used throughout the world. The secondary metabolites present in plant are commercially important and find use in a number of pharmaceutical compounds (Dutta 2015). Phytochemical analysis of ethnomedicinal plants for secondary metabolites is an important area of research because of its relevance for the discovery of therapeutic agents and providing clues for new sources of bioactive compounds. The medicinal value of plants lies in the phytochemicals that have definite physiological action on the human body (Farooqui and Farooqui 2019). The genus Curcuma is a difficult subject for taxonomists and plant explorers owing to its occurrence in remote and inaccessible areas and its short flowering period (Sasidharan and Sivarajan 1989). Curcuma, is a very important genus which is distributed in tropical Asia and the Asia– Pacific region. The Curcuma genus consists of rhizomatous annual or perennial herb in the Zingiberaceae family. The word “Curcuma” is derived from the Arabic word “Kurkum” meaning yellow colour of the rhizome. It was termed as “herb of sun” in vedic period. Most of the species of Curcuma are naturally present in tropical evergreen areas. It is an economically important genus having many different uses. It is widely used as flavouring agent, spices, food preservative, medicines, dyes, starch,